Statewide birding report: Sparrow parade ahead
Birding and bird conservation
Wisconsin ranks 2nd in the nation in percentage of residents who birdwatch, and it’s easy to see why in the spring and summer as Baltimore orioles and hundreds of other species put on a show. Photo by Jack Bartholomai.
Wisconsin is home to over 300 species of birds and has thousands of people who enjoy birds. Explore the links below for information on birds, bird identification, birding locations and how to get involved in bird conservation efforts.
Statewide Birding Report as of October 3, 2019
Wisconsin hosts nearly 20 species of sparrows during fall migration, many peaking during October. Look for the rarer Harris’s sparrow (right) among large flocks of white-throated sparrows this time of year (left). Photo by Ryan Brady.
Overall it was a fairly slow week for birding, owing to wet weather and a lack of cold fronts with associated northwest winds. Sparrows have begun to take center stage with high diversity of species being seen along roadsides, at backyard feeders, and farther afield. White-throated sparrows are peaking up north and arriving in earnest farther south. Look for fox and white-crowned sparrows among them, as well as the rarer Harris’s sparrow, especially if you are in western Wisconsin. Song, Lincoln’s, and chipping sparrows remain fairly common, while more open habitats are still hosting a few savannah, clay-colored, and vesper sparrows. Birders are also finding some of the rare sparrows in wet, weedy fields across southern Wisconsin, including Nelson’s, LeConte’s, Henslow’s, and grasshopper sparrows. Dark-eyed juncos have reached the Illinois border in small numbers, while northern birders can expect a big influx over the next 1-2 weeks. Attract more sparrows to your backyard by providing shrubby cover (e.g. try a brush pile) and sprinkling white millet, cracked corn, and sunflower seeds on the ground nearby.
Southern Wisconsin is holding on to the last of the warblers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet tanagers, indigo buntings, and flycatchers, although eastern phoebes continue as far north as Lake Superior. Baltimore orioles have departed, while the last ruby-throated hummingbirds linger across southeastern counties as far north as Appleton. Eastern bluebirds were reported in good numbers from various locations statewide this week. Numbers of waterfowl are slowly increasing, notably including the first surf and black scoters. Birders and photographers also enjoyed great egrets, great blue herons, American white pelicans, trumpeter swans, belted kingfishers, and other waterbirds at many of the state’s great wetlands.
The week’s rarest finds were a scissor-tailed flycatcher in Manitowoc County, summer tanager in Vernon, Ross’s goose in Dane, and a potential pomarine jaeger amid several parasitic jaegers along Lake Michigan in Ozaukee. Expect active migration conditions into Friday morning and then again Sunday into Monday especially. Warm, southerly winds arrive mid-week and will slow southbound migration but bring the prospect of an exciting vagrant species from the south. Find out what others are seeing and report your sightings to www.ebird.org/wi. Good birding!
– Ryan Brady, DNR Natural Heritage Conservation Program biologist